Veterans Day

[wazemoto07]

Hello to all of our Veterans including myself,
Heres a bit of history and hope you all have a Super Day and the respect we all have earned.
Happy Veterans Day to All...


In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those
who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

Need more be Said.....Thanks to all Vets....

[mtnairlover]

Thanks to all Vets.

My 11-year-old daughter will be watching the Veteran's Day Parade tomorrow for a field trip with her 5th grade class in Loveland. I think that's the first time any of my kids have gone to a Veteran's Day Parade, but it's a very good learning experience for her. We talked about it a little bit this past weekend.

[dapper]

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans...and the military brats too.

[MAZIN]

Indeed Thanks to all for their sacrifice!!!!

[Sortarican]

Thank you to all the men and women who currently serve or have served in the past.

My gratitude extends to all those that have defended this country,
but over the last few years, and with their ranks thinning so quickly, I especially want to express my appreciation
of that generation that fought and won WWII.
Their sacrifice and contribution to world freedom can never really be completely measured or repaid.

I expect many of you have not had the opportunity to talk with many people from that era.
But if you have a parent, grandparent, or neighbor who lived through those times I recommend you take some time to talk to them.
And to thank them.
They're a fading source for incredible stories from a time when the best of humanity stood up against what the worst of humanity had to offer
and saved us all.

[dirkterrell]

Big thanks to all the vets and to what Jeff said.

Dirk

[dapper]

of that generation that fought and won WWII.

My grandfather brought his M1 home after WWII.

I fired it when I was 13 and had no idea what I was shooting.

[Sortarican]

My grandfather brought his M1 home after WWII.

I fired it when I was 13 and had no idea what I was shooting.

The rifle that won WWII.
I fired one this weekend.

[usmcab35]

semper fi to all my fellow vets. and let me be the first to say FUCK IRAQ!!!

[DavidofColorado]

The rifle that won WWII.
I fired one this weekend.

And then you have that commie SKS right next to it.

I have my great uncles WWII mauser that he picked up from the sands in Africa and brought home. He never shot it. It had a broken case in the chamber and the duffle cut still in the stock. The bayonet and the lug was still wired to the barrel with some bailing wire and when I got it I pulled the case out found out what it shot and epoxyed the bayonet lug back on. I was the first person to shoot that gun in over 60 years. It shoots pretty well too.

[DavidofColorado]

Happy Veterans day.

[mtnairlover]

Check out the Highway of Heroes videos all over the place...on YouTube, as well.



Dirge for Two Veterans
from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1900)


The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish’d Sabbath,
On the pavement here—and there beyond, it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.


Lo! the moon ascending!
Up from the east, the silvery round moon;
Beautiful over the house tops, ghastly phantom moon;
Immense and silent moon.


I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key’d bugles;
All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,
As with voices and with tears.


I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring;
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.


For the son is brought with the father;
In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell;
Two veterans, son and father, dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.


Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive;
And the day-light o’er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.


In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin’d;
(’Tis some mother’s large, transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)


O strong dead-march, you please me!
O moon immense, with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans, passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.


The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music;
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

[pilot]

I'm proud to say that I come from a long line of Vets on both sides of my family. All the way to the War of Independence on my Dad's side and tracked back to the Prussian wars on Mom's. It is something else to visit the family cemetery in Arkansas and see so many fallen heroes.

From one vet to another, Happy Veteran's Day.

Everyone, please take a moment to thank a vet in person.

[455bird]

They're a fading source for incredible stories from a time when the best of humanity stood up against what the worst of humanity had to offer
and saved us all.

+1
For the last three years in a row I've got to cut the Marine Corps birthday cake with a Major that was in WWII, as well as talk to an "airplane driver" (as he calls himself) and a grunt that helped take Mount Sirabachi. They're some of the greatest guys you'll meet and humble beyond belief.

[Nick_Ninja]

November 11
Veterans Day
Remembrance Day
Armistice Day

In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The "war to end all wars" was over.

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation's highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe).

These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting. The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11 a.m.

Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was "the War to end all Wars," November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe.

Realizing that peace was equally preserved by veterans of WW II and Korea, Congress was requested to make this day an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day.

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

We hope the wars will end soon, but until they do here’s a website that gives you an opportunity to send a free printed postcard to someone in our military stationed overseas to show your appreciation and support for their service to our country.

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

God bless the USA and the troops that defend her!

[Canuck]

Happy Remembrance Day

[LadyT]

Thank you all for everything!

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Thanks to all veterans for your service to a country that all too often neglects you or belittles your efforts and sacrifices. There are those of us that DO appreciate all you've done and all you've sacrificed.



And I won't even say anything about defending the right to vote for a douc....er, nevermind!

[Player 2]

defending the right to vote for a douc....er, nevermind!

What are you going to be running for Frank?

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

The rifle that won WWII.
I fired one this weekend.

I got to shoot an M1 during a DCM (Defense of the Common Militia) training exercise. Turns out, thru the DCM, if you shoot enough rounds thru one during training, you can petition the US Gov't to allow you to buy a REAL M1 that's been stockpiled for decades. It's fairly cheap (couple hundred$ I think), but it's a real period M1. They have a huge pile of them, and they take one out, clean it, repair anything, shoot some rounds thru it, clean it again, and ship it to you. X1's boss took me to the training, and he'd gotten his. It typically take a couple years for the paperwork bahblahblah, but I think it'd be worth it to have a real piece of history. It could be from any of about 4 different manufacturers, so you get what you get. From what I remember, the springfield Arms version is the best.

It was funny, I remember it poured on us ALL friggin day in Ohio during the event. It was cold, wet, muddy, and miserable, and we stood, or sat or laid down in big puddles while we shot. I'll never forget, one guy started to whine about the weather and one of the Marines that was there to instruct us barked at him "The last time these guns were shot, there were people shooting back at them!"......the guy shut the hell up. It was a very humbling experience at that point. Made us realize just what that would be like. We got to shoot with nobody shooting back. We got to go home to a fresh, hot meal, take a hot shower, and bang the wifey afterwards. The men shooting these, if they survived the incoming fire, got to spend the night in cold, wet, clothes, eating a cold MRE in the rain and mud, and had to look forward to doing it all again in the same situation tmorrow.....and the next day....and the next.....

Hopefully Jeff avoided the infamous (and extremely painful) "M1-thumb".

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

What are you going to be running for Frank?

....my life......